Was your favorite part about the panda bear, or the penny-for-a-peep idea of art? Here is my full review of The Carrie Diaries season 1, episode 3 – titled “Read Before Use”.

The Carrie Diaries Review – “Read Before Use”

Little Sister Woes

Dorrit never has it easy, and this episode was no exception. She was being overlooked by her Dad and her sister. See, while Carrie is obsessed with this new boy, Dorrit just wants to cling to some creature comforts. It’s the details that matter, right? So when she asks for a specific kind of pizza (Stouffer’s French Bread – which is great) she wants that kind, the kind her Mom always used to get. The fact that her Dad messes up on something so small must make Dorrit question how he’ll ever manage on the bigger issues.

Stealing a hamster is a feat I’d almost want to praise her for completing (although not really) and Dorrit seems pretty bummed when she can’t find him. Oh, Mr. Morrisey the hamster, what trouble you cause! But was Dorrit upset just about misplacing him? No, no way! I think it was the idea that her Mother was going to let her have one, and she was trying to make that happen. In trying to get him, and find him, she didn’t have anyone to help her with her problem. She’s going ot need to learn how to rely on others and trust they’ll be there for her. (Which can’t be easy to do when you’ve so recently lost someone you thought would always be there.)

Carrie + Sebastian

They’ve already had a misstep! It seemed like Carrie’s Dad would be their only big obstacle, but of course that’s never how things work. Did you cringe and relate to Carrie as she put her foot in her mouth? Because of course Carrie snooping on him was a big deal to Sebastian. He probably felt very vulnerable and exposed… his privacy was invaded. But in Carrie’s shoes, it was still a heartbreaking moment to realize she had just lost her guy.

Can they even say that on TV? At 8 p.m.?! Well, excuse my hushed whispers, but I was a 90’s teen and sometimes forget that basic TV programming has spread its progressive wings. What I want to talk about is the performance we saw with Monica Penny on the throne.

See, I’m of the sort who thinks you can really all anything art. A penny glued on the floor? It can be art. It’s really all about the intention in which something is created. In this case, it was a performance piece. And on Sex and the City, we saw that Carrie was still finding that NYC had plenty of art pieces like this going on. And really, they’re kind of bogus. Or at least many of them are. I didn’t find this to be something I’d want to see. It’s supposed to be provocative and it does have a meaning…but for all the talk about Monica owning/taking back her power I mostly saw her getting paid something and then showing off her most private of body parts. Does this make me a prude? Am I a Charlotte Yorke? I don’t think entirely. I wouldn’t mind it, or run away from it. But I wouldn’t enjoy it, or think it gave me much artistic inspiration. I don’t know. Shrug, shrug, shrug. It’s worth thinking about, and it was certainly funny to see Mouse take her turn with the penny…

The most important part of this was that Carrie managed to be herself and keep her own rules, and actually be admired by Larissa for them. See, in Larissa’s world she probably can’t imagine many people not following suit to certain standards. But Carrie is new, and brings a youthfulness that jaded people misplace.
Mr. Bradshaw

Is he doing okay as a Dad? He’s trying, and that’s important. Though his decision to ban Carrie from seeing Sebastian seems mishandled. Obviously anything your parent says you absolutely cannot do, you’ll then want to do. It’s like being told not to think about the color blue. Gee, I wonder what you’re thinking about now? Could it be…blue! The forbidden blue?! That’s how it works.

Getting Carrie that internship is what ultimately helps create Carrie, but that’s the decision that worries me the most. Carrie gets to just walk around the city all alone? In the pilot he seemed very nervous about her getting home, and only getting a ride home from someone she knew at the office. But now she’s taking taxi’s and going into the city all the time… So I guess, yea, I’m a worrier.

All in all, this was another great episode. I’m always tweeting from @CarrieDiariesNY and I hope you guys follow and tweet me while you watch the show on the East coast!